Pulse Flex 2i speaker battery use.
Answered
I have just purchased a BP100 battery pack for one of my Pulse Flex 2i speakers. I charged the battery fully and removed the mains power from the speaker. However, the next morning the battery was discharged, even though I had not used the speaker. Is there some way to turn off the speaker when it is under battery power? I did notice that the lights on the top control panel remained on after having disconnected the mains power, which seemed strange, but I haven't been able to discover any way to turn the speaker off.
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Official comment
I asked around two years ago when I purchased mine and I haven't been under the impression that Bluesound sees this as a problem which needs fixing. Having said that, in my experience the Flex does go into standby after 15 minutes whether plugged on the mains or on battery pack, but after some time it will drain your battery pack anyway, standby mode or not.
So yes, the conclusion I drew is that you need to attach the pack whenever you want to move your Flex and use it somewhere where you don't have mains available - and remove the pack as soon as you can connect to the mains again. And I am also concerned that doing so repeatedly would damage the contacts over time but was told that using the Flex this way was less detrimental to its lifespan than any other use (such as using Vacation Mode as an "on/off" switch).
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I had the same experience when I bought my Flex and BP100 and after asking around, I came to the conclusion that the best practice is to do the opposite to what you are currently doing: you should keep your Flex connected to the mains without the BP100 unless you want to move it or play it somewhere away from a plug. Only when you need to be mobile should you attach the BP and disconnect from the mains - until your BP runs out of power that is.
That's the way I've been using it since.
You cannot turn your Flex off, only put it into Vacation Mode (but that does not really help with your BP100), and Bluesound does not recommend to use Vacation Mode too often (should not be used as an on/off function).
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Marc is right, that‘s the way you should use it.
In normal standby, LED still light blue the speaker is not absolutely off and still communicates with the network so you can use the App and controll the player immediatelly.Vacation Mode (longpress Play/Pause button until LED goes off) will help that akku isn‘t used. But the device needs to be switched on with this button at the device again and than it takes some time it will appear in the app and you can use it.
Bluesound players are built to be on or in Standby all the time. This is the reason why Vacationmode is not recommended to be used all the time. The accu shouldn’t be installed when the powercord is used. Only for loading the accu, than uninstall the accu and use the speaker with powercord only.
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Was there a response from Bluesound to this? I have the same problem; the suggestion from BSSupportcrew is that the unit will go into standby after 15 minutes if the amp standby switch is set to 'on' (blued in), but that doesn't seem to happen when the battery pack is fitted - which would be exactly when you want to have it saving power!
I want to use mine in the bathroom, for a few minutes each day, where a power cord isn't practical (or legal).
It seems likley that by putting the pack on and off the unit to conserve battery charge is likely to lead to fatigue on the contacts and the docking lugs, so that is likely to casue failure after a while
TBH I love Blueseound kit (I have a Powernode 2i and a Node 2i), which is why I have a pulse flex rather than Sonos or a bluetooth speaker, but I wouldn't have bought one and the battery pack (total cost £370!) if I'd known this was an issue - Bluesound need a software fix for this surely?0 -
Thanks Marc. I can only assume that as there's been no response from BS re this issue, they don't, as you say, see it as a problem
Disappointing as they are normally really good on customer service
Stewart
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Hi Stewart
Sorry, we missed this one - Marc's conclusion was accurate. Even in Vacation mode there is a trickle draw happening and will drain the battery over time.
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Tony
Thanks for the response; I'm not convinced this is good enough though TBH. The idea of having a battery pack is so it can be used without being plugged in, so leaving it plugged in as it cycles through charge/discharge is bound to damage the battery. And if it has to be undocked from the battery pack when not being used, then the BP100 is quite limited in its utility, would you not agree? This was not clear at all when I bought the £70 battery pack, and definitely against expectation - which is a lot for 8 no AA rechargeable batteries in a plastic case. (Equivelant to about £16.00, retail, tops). Surely a simple software fix that does put the unit into low power standby when on the BP would do this? It's not like it takes days to drain down ('over time' to quote your response would be OK, but overnight; hardly): even in VM (so more so in STBY) it discharges after no more than about a day I estimate. So I have to remove the battery pack every time I'm not using it, which is after about 30 minutes while I shower and shave each day? That should last 1-2 weeks minimum. Come on, Bluesound can do better than that surely? The unit is hardly cheap is it (but is a great little piece of kit), and the battery is just plain extortionate given the inconvenience it entails1 -
I’ve just found out that the battery packs run out overnight ! I cannot understand why the speakers cannot go into a low power consumption mode when on standby. What is the point of having wireless speakers when a (power) wire needs to remain connected ! I can accept the need to recharge after ~4hours or so, but it is unacceptable to need to recharge after 4 hours elapsed time, even if I’m not using the speakers. I wonder if I have been mis sold the battery option, which is expensive for what it is. Surely the software can incorporate a low power state.
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Searching for the possible explanation for the overnight swift BP100 battery drain I just purchased preventing my to listening to my my favourite radio station during the regular morning wake up rituals in the bathroom as well, I see from the posts above that it appears not be related to the battery I purchased, but that it appears to be 'normal'.
A shame that Bluesound is not sharing this information on its website allowing me to overthink the purchase and setting my expectations regading the usage of it.
How come Bluesound that for whatever reason, given your superb speaker products, your are apparently not able to produce/manufacture a battery that will/can last longer, and at the same time are not transparant about this?
Or am I wrong and is the cause of the overnigy battery drain related to the battery I just purchased?
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Jean-Pierre. You are not 'wrong'; it's a poor design by the otherwise excellent Bluesound team. The unit does not go into 'standby' mode or 'powersave' mode when paused or not playing (even though they say it does, sort of); it's effectively always 'on'. You can switch it to vacation mode, by pressing the play button for something like 15 seconds, but this effectively powers down the unit but this does the unit no good, and is not recommended by Bluesound, so best not to do that too often.
I agree, this is very poorly communicated, and like you I would have thought twice before buying a 'mobile' version, because it's not mobile really unless using it for a few hours. I've also not really had a good enough answer from the Bluesound Crew - I suspect they are embarrassed as this is clearly not good enough for a £300 item. .
Fully charge the battery pack, then undock it from the actual unit and only plug it back on when you are using the unit - it takes a few minutes to regain the wif fi signal and switch on, WHICH IS VERY INCONVENIENT but at least it works and doesn't damage the unit (although it surely wears the terminals and connection mechanism), It does produce great sound though and is splendid for using it at a Barbecue, say, so all in all a good item, EXCEPT IT IS USELESS FOR OCCASIONAL USE such as, as a 'bathroom companion'
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I see on the website that Bluesound is offering a 50% discount on battery packs for the Pules Flex 2i. I'd like to suggest as a guesture of goodwill they offer the equivelant to previous customers by way of a voucher or credit note as well.Just saying
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Many thanks Stewart for your quick response, and sharing your view and recommendations! Very much appreciated. ;-)
Enjoy your day!
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I know this is a 3+ year old thread but was wondering if anyone had the same problem as I have. I’ve had the same charging and drainage issues as stated here by others but I haven’t been able to even use my BP-100’s for some time now as neither will even charge now.
Am I forced to purchase new units or is there another option? If the units aren’t any better than my originals then I doubt I’ll spend the money again.
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Hi Wade
Likely your NiMH batteries inside your backpack are fully drained and depleted... consider charging them overnight in an external third-party NiMH charger or replacing them with new NiMH rechargeable batteries
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Thanks Tony! I meant to ask if the internal batteries could be replaced. I’ll try to charge as you describe and if that doesn’t work will replace them.
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@Tony W - I just ended up in the exact same situation as Stewart here. Namely, I'm in the (and love the) BlueSound ecosystem in my apartment, but want music in my bathroom. As direct power isn't an option, I went with the Flex2i + BP100, but it literally drains in a day or two.
Has nothing been done in the product department to improve this problem in the past three years..?
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Hi Rasmus
What you are seeing is as expected... as mentioned earlier in the thread, this is how NiMH batteries work. Thanks for understanding.
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